Relay Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:RLAY) Short Interest Up 19.0% in May

Relay Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:RLAY - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in the month of May. As of May 15th, there was short interest totalling 23,160,000 shares, a growth of 19.0% from the April 30th total of 19,470,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,570,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 9.0 days. Approximately 14.5% of the company's shares are short sold.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on RLAY. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Relay Therapeutics in a report on Thursday, April 17th. They issued an "equal weight" rating and a $4.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Relay Therapeutics from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $16.00 price target on shares of Relay Therapeutics in a report on Friday, March 7th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Relay Therapeutics from $30.00 to $10.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lowered their target price on shares of Relay Therapeutics from $27.00 to $23.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $17.67.

Relay Therapeutics Stock Performance

RLAY stock traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $3.36. 1,765,053 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,361,276. The stock has a market capitalization of $576.06 million, a PE ratio of -1.29 and a beta of 1.59. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $2.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $3.69. Relay Therapeutics has a one year low of $1.77 and a one year high of $10.72.

Relay Therapeutics (NASDAQ:RLAY - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, May 5th. The company reported ($0.46) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.50) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $7.68 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.01 million. The company's quarterly revenue was down 23.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.62) EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Relay Therapeutics will post -2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Relay Therapeutics news, CFO Thomas Catinazzo sold 12,943 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $3.00, for a total transaction of $38,829.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 355,376 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,066,128. This trade represents a 3.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sanjiv Patel sold 61,422 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $2.97, for a total value of $182,423.34. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 821,667 shares in the company, valued at $2,440,350.99. This trade represents a 6.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 94,320 shares of company stock valued at $280,981 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 4.87% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Relay Therapeutics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $23,821,000. Tang Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Relay Therapeutics by 126.1% during the fourth quarter. Tang Capital Management LLC now owns 8,068,058 shares of the company's stock worth $33,240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500,000 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Relay Therapeutics by 142.4% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 2,568,384 shares of the company's stock valued at $10,582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,508,777 shares during the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Relay Therapeutics by 448.4% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 1,518,561 shares of the company's stock worth $3,979,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241,657 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Relay Therapeutics by 69.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,964,997 shares of the company's stock worth $12,216,000 after purchasing an additional 1,216,334 shares in the last quarter. 96.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Relay Therapeutics

Relay Therapeutics, Inc operates as a clinical-stage precision medicines company. It engages in transforming the drug discovery process with an initial focus on enhancing small molecule therapeutic discovery in targeted oncology and genetic disease indications. The company's lead product candidates include RLY-4008, an oral small molecule inhibitor of fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 (FGFR2), which is in a first-in-human clinical trial for patients with advanced or metastatic FGFR2-altered solid tumors; RLY-2608, a lead mutant-PI3Ka inhibitor program that targets phosphoinostide 3 kinase alpha; and Migoprotafib (GDC-1971), an oral, small molecule, potent and selective inhibitor of the protein tyrosine phosphatase SHP2 that binds and stabilizes Src homology region 2 domain-containing phosphatase-2 (SHP2) as a monotherapy in patients with advanced or metastatic solid tumors.